DVD slideshow GUI - development thread.

[tin2tin]

Yes, I think so.(That was only when exporting to DVD Menus(Gui for dvdauthor))

[tin2tin]

Double post.

Oh, well might as well use this post for something... if you want the wip DSG eBook as a windows helpfile it can be downloaded here: http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/help.chm
Just doubleclick that file and it will open.

[TayfunRaider]

Cool. Now I can make great projects without worries.

[tin2tin]

Much to my surprise MPCHC is treating paths in imported scripts different than MPC. This will cause errors when using transitions with 'FF_' in the transition names ex. 'FF_Smear_Left.avs'.

Fix one thing... break another...

Well I've corrected the FF_transtions. Get them here and unzip them into the DVD slideshow GUI/Transitions folder:
http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/Unzip_to_Transitions_folder.zip

Let me know if there are more previews erroring out on files missing.

[tin2tin]

DVD slideshow GUI has (yet again) been updated.

0.9.4.6
Updated:
- YouTubeUploader
- Helpfiles(wip)
Downdated:
- Back to the old Media Player Classic

MPC_HC caused a lot of showstopper bugs, so I had to update yet again, with the old Media Player Classic. In the same round YouTubeUploader has been updated and the wip helpfile has been included.

[TayfunRaider]

Cheking out the new version 0.9.4.6

Everything is excellent so far. Tried an audio and no glitches at all and the preset fading is fixed.
I can preview the FF transitions and others. Haven't tried all of them though.

Just a small issue which may be occuring on my PC alone.
While I'm changing the transitions in a slide setting window, sometimes I get the following message.

Can't load image from file 'Nothing': file does not exist.

I select a transition, I get the error above, which ends up "transition doesn't change").
Then I redo this selection and it works. Seems strange.

My PC is a bit old. 1.8GHZ single cpu 1GB Ram
And considering this app uses full cpu during some of the actions including transition select,
think this could be the reason.

How is this situation on your PC, tin2tin?

[tin2tin]

I haven't seen that error in i Slide Settings window. The inbuild media player in wxBasic is glitzy - so it might be just that - or it is not able to save/load the Avisynth script for the example viewer/media player fast enough.

Btw. forget about those FF_ transitions above.

[argusvidicon]

Silly question - will the new .6 update delete the HC during downgrade when going back to the old MPC ?
Can't wait to try the new YT Up-loader, I like that sometimes. I often create a shortcut to it and use it for other YT uploads.
Many thanks for continued updates from tin2tin, as well as time spent by those of you that spend time pushing the DSG. You have my respect, as one of my favorite hobbies is pushing several software application to their brink. Whether on a 2Ghz with 2Gb of RAM, or a duo (or Dual) with 6Gb of RAM. Can;'t wait to get my hands on an i7 and try to push one of those. I've only got to see the BS-o-D in win 7 once so far, that's pretty good for win 7.

[tin2tin]

Silly question - will the new .6 update delete the HC during downgrade when going back to the old MPC ?

Only the one included in DSG. If you installed MPC-HC normally, then that won't be touched.

[tin2tin]

Anyone familiar with delaboratory which is a great piece of free software for color manipulation of photos?



http://code.google.com/p/delaboratory/

It can be used in connection with DSG, if you select it as the paint program under Files>External Applications.

[tin2tin]

CrazyApokalypse uploaded a nice DSG tutorial(in german):

[chowmein]

I still reckon this is the best slideshow-maker software out there. But latest version when I click "Background" in Project Settings I get something like "MSVCP100.dll not found"? Also when adding music - same error message?

Can I ask something else? Why, when installing, do we must install all things (most of us) we already got installed? What if we install an update, and then install your software and it installs a previous avisynth or whatever over the top? Can't you make it so it looks for what is on the system & only begs you to install what is needed? OR... keep it all "portable", in it's own folder, so that it doesn't override anything?? I mean, avisynth 2.5 or avisynth 2.6? Confusing!

[tin2tin]

I still reckon this is the best slideshow-maker software out there. But latest version when I click "Background" in Project Settings I get something like "MSVCP100.dll not found"? Also when adding music - same error message?

I never encountered that error. What OS are you running DSG on? If you google it various solutions pop up, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH-0Vrd8kbg

Can I ask something else? Why, when installing, do we must install all things (most of us) we already got installed? What if we install an update, and then install your software and it installs a previous avisynth or whatever over the top? Can't you make it so it looks for what is on the system & only begs you to install what is needed? OR... keep it all "portable", in it's own folder, so that it doesn't override anything?? I mean, avisynth 2.5 or avisynth 2.6? Confusing!

The programs DSG depends on needs to be installed. I agree that it would be preferable if the installer could check against version numbers before installing, but I don't know how to do that with istool. If anyone knows - then let me know. The low-fi solution is just to uncheck those programs in the installer you don't need to install.

[chowmein]

Yeah that's weird. I'm always hesitant of installing new "dll" files & stuff? I am using XP Home (SP3). I've never had a problem with DSG before? I just installed the "DSG" package, and unclicked everything else. Should I click everything else & re-install? Which avisynth does it use - 2.5 or 2.6? If I install the splitters & codecs & stuff will it interfere with my system? These are serious questions!? :P

EDIT: tin2tin I really do apologise if I'm sounding over-critical! I'm NOT! Your software, as I said above, is better than any commercial software I've tried! I really wish tho' that you could make a self-contained installer that just installed everything you need into one Program Files folder and that's it. Doesn't muck with registry etc. We really need that, bro! :P

[tin2tin]

DSG runs fine here on XP SP3. I don't know why that dll is missing from your system?

The only thing DSG does to the registry is linking .dsg files to the DSG program, so when you doubleclick a .dsg file it will open in DSG. What the other programs installs I can't know for sure since I didn't make those, but I'm under the impression that these programs are safe to install and will not do damage to your system. DSG just runs the individual program's installers. The included programs will be installed to the default folders set in their installers.

The latest versions of DSG needs Avisynth 2.6 to function proberly.

BTW. I love your Punk videos. They have a great analog feeling to them. Did you figure out how to tinker with the post/pre effects?

[chowmein]

OK I apologise (again) tin2tin. I reinstalled DSG with everything ticked (except ImgBurn) and it is working fine. I guess I coulda ticked "ImgBurn" but I "know" I have the latest version ha!

I have a big project so I will report if anything goes amiss. Thanks, bro. You rule. Please keep it up with development, because as I said before, it shits on the commercial stuff out there. Yours is a winner!

[george84]

Two small bugs in subtitles (version 9.4.6)

The generated .ssa file has an error in section events. The keyword End must start with uppercase E. Currently mkvmerge gives an error message when including such ssa.

The generated .srt file has missing blank lines. Blank lines are need to start a new subtitle.

Small errors with big effects. Workaround for me is to correct the files with a text editor.

[george84]

Request/Bug for export of subtitles

In "Project Settings" there is a checkbox Subtitles (Add subtitles to rendering). If this is not checked then the preview shows no subtitles. However the export to mp4 will still hardcode the subtitles into the mp4.

My request would be to use above flag also when rendering (exporting) to mp4. This would allow to create selectable subtitles in a later (re)multiplexing process

[george84]

Bug: Animation overwrites following slide, or previous slide ...version 9.4.6

I do the following:

1. open DSG
2. import picture A
3. import picture B
4. click on A, then click on amination thumb
5. click on key thumb, move key cursor to right end, set zoom to 200, click into rotate, click key thumb, click Okay
6. click on B, then click on animation thumb

DSG shows that there are already two keys in this picture.

This is only a very simple example how to produce the error.

I experience this problem all the time. Change animation in one picture and another one is affected too. Also deleting keys gives many problems.

[george84]

Export to story board not very practical

In export to storyboard the subtitle is centered in a box right to the picture. If it were at the top of the box then it would be easier to write instructions (by hand) into a printout of the storyboard.

[tin2tin]

@ george84 Thanks for your reports. My job is killing me atm. so I don't know when I'll have time & energy to code
[BTW. You're proberly the first one ever to try the export to storyboard function ]

[tin2tin]

Wow, today this thread is 7 years old! I must be crazy to have spend that much time on DVD slideshow GUI.

Thanks guys for keeping me buzy.

[TayfunRaider]

Congratulations on your 7th anniversary. I see that DSG has come really close to a stable version.
It must have been a tough work building everything from nothing. Nice to see your efforts have paid off.

Let the version keep going up...

[chowmein]

Congrats, tin2tin.

[tin2tin]

A new quick-fix patch which solves the srt, ssa, mp4 subtitle bugs and html suggestion:
http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/DSG_0946_Patch_srt_ssa_mp4.zip
(Unzip and overwrite the existing DVDslideshowGUI.exe in the DVD slideshow GUI folder.)

[george84]

A new quick-fix patch

Congratulations to your birthday. You are very fast, probably because you are so young (only seven years old). You got a present.

My tests give.

1. ssa export. Bug corrected. Export is valid independent of subtitle checkbox in Project settings.
2. srt export. Bug corrected. Export is only valid independent if subtitle checkbox is checked in Project settings, otherwise file size is zero. (???)
3. html export. Bug corrected, but on export there is also started HCEnc. I just abort it. (???)
4. mp4 export. Bug corrected. If subtitle checkbox is not checked in Project settings then no subtitles are generated. That's what I needed.

Point 1, 2 and 4 were important for me. 3 is just nice to have.

[tin2tin]

Thank you for the generous present.

Those where the fast-to-fix ones. The other bugs you found will be more time-consuming to solve and I'll not be around my computer the upcoming week.

The reason HCenc opens is that previously HCenc was used to process all Avisynth scripts even for saving images. I haven't touched or tested that code since I implemented that function.

Export is only valid independent if subtitle checkbox is checked in Project settings, otherwise file size is zero.

Looked into this and found no obvious reason why it doesn't do what it is supposed to do...

[george84]

Memory problems

I am trying to do animations. On your webpage you have an impressive slideshow "Animations and Transitions - Paintings". Really nice.

I already told you that I have some problems with animation. My new tests gave me more problems with animations, sometimes DSG would even crash. But this isn't the subject of this post.

When I try to do something similar to your demo then I run into memory problems. My pictures are all 1920*1080. The problem is avisynth which grows to 1.7GB and then complains "...I think we have run out of memory, folks". My slides should display much longer (510) than in your demo. I tried to do a scroll_left with a slide duration of 25 seconds. Avisynth 2.6 didn't help. I have XP installed, which can use only 3GB of memory.
The problem seems to be some kind of memory fragmentation.

Do you have any suggestions? Would this work better on Windows 7?

I have read several posts in this forum concerning memory problems. Memory load seems to be determined by:
number of pictures
how long to display a picture
how long to display a transition
type of transition
type of animation

Can you give a general guideline on how the mix of these variables determines the possible length of a slideshow? For me it's not clear what memory is permanently allocated during encoding.

I was just looking at the avs and see that you limit memory to 75% of free physical memory. What is the reason for this?. I will try to change this value and encode with avidemux.

[george84]

Memory problems (contd.)

I am very happy. I changed in the avs file the second line:

# Script gererated by DVD slideshow GUI
SetMemoryMax(Round(SetMemoryMax(0)*3.9))

This way it encoded to AVC. I played it on a BlueRay Player, and the quality is excellent. So my advice would be; close all programs under windows, change given line, and encode using avidemux.

A small question for a film editor: I zoom out of a view of a building. Zoom duration 20 seconds. In the end, when much of the building is almost completely visible, you get the visual impression that it zooms much faster than in the beginning. Why?

[Gavino]

I zoom out of a view of a building. Zoom duration 20 seconds. In the end, when much of the building is almost completely visible, you get the visual impression that it zooms much faster than in the beginning. Why?

Probably because the scale (or 'zoom factor') is changing linearly with time.
To represent a constant motion of the camera (towards or away from the scene), the scale should change reciprocally, or to put it another way, 1/scale should change linearly.